Puzzle



(No Model.) JL'C. FIELDS.

PUZZLE 1 No. 498,639. fP :,te.nted May 30, 1893.

mmvroa WU 3 W 8 WK I ATTORNEYS;

NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN C. FIELDS, OF MEADVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA.

PUZZLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 498,639, dated May 30, 1893.

Application filed ly 9, 1892- Serial No. 439,453. (NomodeL) To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN C. FIELDS, of Meadville, in the county of Crawford and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and Improved Puzzle, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to a puzzle, and has for its object to provide a puzzle of a simple character but which will require considerable knack and ingenuity to solve it, and which will at the same time both interest and amuse the manipulator.

The invention consists in the novel construction and combination of the several parts, as will be hereinafter fully set forth and pointed out in the claim. 7

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, in which similar figures and letters of refer ence indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the puzzle with one of the covers removed therefrom. Fig. 2 is a transverse section through the puzzle, practically on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1; and Figs. 3 and 4 are detail perspective views of blocks forming a portion of the puzzle.

The puzzle consists primarily of a series of blocks A and a basket B, adapted to contain the blocks. The basket comprises a body portion and covers, the body portion being designated as a and the covers as a. The body a of the basket comprises an upper and a lower skeleton frame 10 and ]1, the members of the frame being of angle iron construction, or essentially L-shaped in cross section, and the two frames 10 and 11,'are connected by corner strips or members 12, of the same cross sectional contour as the members of the upper and lower frames. Thus open side panels 13, are produced, and upper and lower open panels 14 and 15. lhe covers a, are adapted to be sprung over, or otherwise attached to the body of the basket at the top and at the bottom,and" these covers are readily removable, being preferably made with marginal flanges 16, which extend downward and engage with spring latches 17, attached to the upper and lower frames 10 and 11.

The blocks A, may be of any desired shape;

preferably, however, they are made square,

and are therefore provided with six faces. Any desired number of blocks may be used, but preferably eighteen blocks are employed, as shown in the drawings, and the basket is so constructed in that event as to just contain eighteen blocks when arranged in two tiers, one above the other, nine blocks in a tier. The blocks are made in two colors, which may be any colors that fancy may dictate, for example, red and black. Two blocks will be made with only one red face; and the others will have two, three or more faces of red color.

Many. ways may be devised for amusing oneself with the blocks and the basket; one method of gainingsuch amusement is as follows: The blocks are all placed in the basket in such manner that the black faces, for example, only, of all the blocks will be exposed at the open panels in the basket, that is, at the sides, top and bottom. The basket having been filled with blocks placed in this manner one of the covers is taken off and the central block removed. The puzzle now consists in causing the red faces only of the blocks to be presented outward, and to accomplish this result by simply moving the blocks laterally within the basket, or vertically, and" without turning them from their original position. In order to determine what may be the color of the face immediately opposite the exposed face and likewise the adjacent faces, the several faces are provided with indentations or projections 18, as most clearly shown in Fig. 4, and one or more of such indentations are colored correspondingly to the color on the face adjacent to such indentures excepting the central one, which corresponds with the color on the opposite face. It will be noticed by referring to-Fig. 4 that three of the indentures are of a different color to the face on which they appear, (the central one and two outer 'ones) while the remaining two are of the same color as the surface on which they are situated. Thus in viewing the blocks at the panel the operator can tell whether the opposite side of the block is black, its outer face being black, for example, or whether it is red; and also what may be the color of each adjacent face. If the central projection or indenture on the outer face is black it is apparent that the inner face, or that immediately opposite, is likewise black, and if a projection or indentureat one side of the outer face is red it indicates that the corresponding face is also red.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- A puzzle consisting of a basket provided with an open top and sides, and a series of blocks located within the same, the blocks having their .faces in two colors, each block bearing the same colors, such blocks having their faces further provided with one or more indicating marks, colored to register With the same, the opposite or the adjacent faces all substantially as and for the purposes described.

JOHN G. FIELDS.

Witnesses:

J. W. THOMAS, J. H. MONTGOMERY. 

